The present invention relates to an optical disc drive for recording and/or playing an optical disc medium such as a CD and a DVD.
JP-A-2003-151259 and JP-A-2004-241024 disclose an example of an optical disc drive for a conventional desktop-type personal computer and for an optical disc recorder/player, which example has the structure in which outside air is introduced for the inside cooling of the drive without using a cooling fan. The optical disc drive disclosed in JP-A-2003-151259 discharges air from an opening arranged on a back surface, opposite to a drive panel, of a cover member forming an external surface of the drive, preferably arranged in a position near its top and near a corner into which an internal air induced by disc rotation in the disc drive flows, and inhales the outside air into the drive from a gap on matching surfaces of exterior components including the cover member. The optical disc drive disclosed in JP-A-JP-A-2004-241024 has a disc accommodating room formed by a housing and a lower bulkhead for accommodating a disc drive mechanism, so that the outside air is inhaled from an opening on a side surface (front surface or back surface) of the housing under the bulkhead, and then introduced through a guide pathway into the disc accommodating room from an opening in the bulkhead formed around a rotation center of the disc, and finally discharged to the outside from an opening in a side surface (back surface) of the housing.